On Thursday, May 23rd, Straightening Reins hosted an open house.  Straightening Reins is an organization that uses horses and other animals as tools to help promote emotional growth.  To help raise awareness about their new organization, Straightening Reins held an Open Barn to show the community about their programs.  They have classes that help teenagers express their creativity through painting and photography.  Through interactions with horses and barnyard animals, teenagers are taught to understand their feelings and struggles.  Sraightening Reins offers programs to help teens cope with the stresses of school.  Teens are taught valuable lessons like how to handle bullying.  Staightening Reins offers tutoring for its students as well.  “Straightening Reins’ mission is to transform the lives of at-risk youth and their families by providing the building blocks to deal with life on life’s terms.”  Their summer program includes: horse grooming care and riding, art w/ colored pencils chalk charcoal paint watercolors & collage materials, reading – fiction/ non-fiction/ multi-media, and writing processes including note taking, outlines, summarizing and editing.  They are located at 30255 Quail Trail Road, near Vasquez Canyon, on the left along San Francisquito Canyon – 2.6 miles from Copper Hill.